About Stephen II, Count of Blois

Stephen II Henry (c. 1045 – 19 May 1102), (in French, Étienne Henri), Count of Blois and Count of Chartres, was the son of Theobald III, count of Blois, and Garsinde du Maine. He married Adela of Normandy, a daughter of William the Conqueror around 1080 in Chartres.

Count Stephen was one of the leaders of the First Crusade, often writing enthusiastic letters to Adela about the crusade's progress. He returned home in 1098 during the lengthy siege of Antioch, without fulfilling his crusading vow to forge a way to Jerusalem. He was pressured by Adela into making a second pilgrimage, and joined the minor crusade of 1101 in the company of others who had also returned home prematurely. In 1102, Stephen was killed in the Battle of Ramla at the age of fifty-seven.

Stephen and Adela's children were:

1.William, Count of Sully (d.1150), Count of Chartres married Agnes of Sulli (d. aft 1104) and had issue.

2.Theobald II, Count of Champagne

3.Odo, died young.

4.Stephen, King of England

5.Lucia-Mahaut, married Richard d'Avranches, 2nd Earl of Chester. Both drowned on 25 November 1120.

6.Agnes, married Hugh III of Le Puiset

7.Eléonore (d. 1147) married Raoul I of Vermandois (d. 1152) and had issue; they were divorced in 1142.

Lithuise, who married Milon of Troyes, viscount of Troyes, was possibly his sister and not his daughter, judging from the dates of her children.

He had an illegitimate daughter Emma, who was the mother of William of York, archbishop of York.

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Stephen II, Count of Blois

Stephen II Henry (c. 1045 – 19 May 1102), (in French, Étienne Henri), Count of Blois and Count of Chartres, was the son of Theobald III, count of Blois, and Garsinde du Maine. He married Adela of Normandy, a daughter of William the Conqueror around 1080 in Chartres.

Count Stephen was one of the leaders of the First Crusade, often writing enthusiastic letters to Adela about the crusade's progress. He returned home in 1098 during the lengthy siege of Antioch, without fulfilling his crusading vow to forge a way to Jerusalem. He was pressured by Adela into making a second pilgrimage, and joined the minor crusade of 1101 in the company of others who had also returned home prematurely. In 1102, Stephen was killed in the Battle of Ramla at the age of fifty-seven.

Stephen and Adela's children were:

Guillaume (William) (d.1150), Count of Chartres married Agnes of Sulli (d. aft 1104) and had issue.

Theobald II, Count of Champagne

Odo, died young.

Stephen, King of England

Lucia-Mahaut, married Richard d'Avranches, 2nd Earl of Chester. Both drowned on 25 November 1120.

Agnes, married Hugh III of Le Puiset

Eléonore (d. 1147) married Raoul I of Vermandois (d. 1152) and had issue; they were divorced in 1142.

For the King of England called "Stephen of Blois", see Stephen of England.

Stephen II Henry (c. 1045 – 19 May 1102), (in French, Étienne Henri), Count of Blois and Count of Chartres, was the son of Theobald III, count of Blois, and Garsinde du Maine. He married Adela of Normandy, a daughter of William the Conqueror around 1080 in Chartres.

Count Stephen was one of the leaders of the First Crusade, often writing enthusiastic letters to Adela about the crusade's progress. He returned home in 1098 during the lengthy siege of Antioch, without fulfilling his crusading vow to forge a way to Jerusalem. He was pressured by Adela into making a second pilgrimage, and joined the minor crusade of 1101 in the company of others who had also returned home prematurely. In 1102, Stephen was killed in the Battle of Ramla at the age of fifty-seven.

[edit]Family and children

Stephen and Adela's children were:

Guillaume (William) (d.1150), Count of Chartres married Agnes of Sulli (d. aft 1104) and had issue.

Theobald II, Count of Champagne

Odo, died young.

Stephen, King of England

Lucia-Mahaut, married Richard d'Avranches, 2nd Earl of Chester. Both drowned on 25 November 1120.

Agnes, married Hugh III of Le Puiset

Eléonore (d. 1147) married Raoul I of Vermandois (d. 1152) and had issue; they were divorced in 1142.

Stephen (c.1096 – 25 October 1154), the only King of England from the House of Blois and also Count of Boulogne by marriage, reigned from 1135 to 1154, when he was succeeded by his cousin Henry II, the first of the Angevin or Plantagenet Kings.

Contents

[hide]

* 1 Early life

* 2 Seizes throne of England

* 3 War with Matilda

* 4 Recognises Henry as his heir and dies

* 5 Trivia

* 6 Notes

* 7 Sources

* 8 Bibliography

[edit] Early life

Stephen was born at Blois in France, the son of Stephen, Count of Blois, and Adela (daughter of William the Conqueror). His brothers were Count Theobald II of Champagne and Henry of Blois, bishop of Winchester.

Stephen was sent to be reared at the English court of his uncle, King Henry I, in 1106. He became Count of Mortain in about 1115, and married Matilda, daughter of the Count of Boulogne, in about 1125, who shortly after became Countess of Boulogne. Stephen became joint ruler in 1128. In 1150 he ceased to co-rule, and in 1151, the County was given to his son, Eustace IV. When Eustace died childless, Stephen's next living son, William inherited the territory.

[edit] Seizes throne of England

Before the death of King Henry I of England in 1135, the majority of the barons of England swore to support Henry's daughter (Empress Matilda, granddaughter of William the Conqueror), and her claim to the throne. However, Stephen (also a grandchild of The Conqueror through his mother and who had been raised at Henry's court) laid claim to the throne. He also claimed his uncle, King Henry, had changed his mind on his deathbed, and named Stephen as his heir. Once Stephen was crowned, he gained the support of the majority of the barons as well as Pope Innocent II. The first few years of his reign were peaceful, but by 1139 he was seen as weak and indecisive, setting the country up for a civil war, commonly called The Anarchy.

Stephen had many traits that made him seem superficially fit for kingship: his high birth, his descent from the Conqueror, his handsomeness, his bravery and his good nature. But he possessed none of the ruthlessness necessary for the ruthless times he lived in. An unfavourable thumbnail sketch of him is given by Walter Map (who wrote during the reign of Matilda's son Henry II): "A man of a certain age, remarkably hard-working but otherwise a nonentity [idiota] or perhaps rather inclined to evil."[1]

The reign of Stephen was indeed a turbulent period, to some degree an overflow of struggles for supremacy amongst barons in Normandy. But he retained the support of the majority of English barons throughout his reign and, importantly, the citizens of London. Contemporary records are slight, being mainly in the form of charters which are often difficult to date precisely, and, more significantly, chronicles whose authors were, in most cases, directly or indirectly at the behest of Robert of Gloucester, the principal rebel. It was these who presented Bishop Henry of Winchester as an opponent of his brother Stephen; but since the kingship of Stephen was supported by Innocent II, and Henry was Papal Legate, some scepticism is appropriate. A reassessment of the reign is due but far from easy.

[edit] War with Matilda

Stephen faced the forces of Empress Matilda at several locations including the Battle of Lincoln and the Battle of Beverston Castle. Bad omens haunted him before the Battle of Lincoln (2 February 1141). Stephen was facing his rebellious barons Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester (the Empress' illegitimate half-brother) and Ranulph, the Earl of Chester. He fought so bravely in the battle that his battle-axe shattered. He drew a sword and continued fighting until it broke as well, as he was captured by a knight named William de Cahaignes (a relative of Ranulph, ancestor of the Keynes family including John Maynard Keynes, the well known economist). Stephen was defeated and he was brought before his cousin, the Empress Matilda.

English Royalty

House of Normandy

Stephen

Eustace IV, Count of Boulogne

William, Count of Boulogne

Marie, Countess of Boulogne

Stephen was imprisoned at Bristol, but his wife, the Countess Matilda, kept faith, and the Empress was soon forced out of London. With the capture of her most able lieutenant, the Earl of Gloucester, Matilda was eventually obliged to release Stephen from captivity, and he was restored to the throne in November of the same year. In December 1142, the Empress was besieged at Oxford, but she managed to escape across the snow to Wallingford Castle, held by her supporter Brien FitzCount.

In 1147, Empress Matilda's adolescent son, Henry (the eventual King Henry II), decided to assist in the war effort by raising a small army of mercenaries and invading England. Rumours of this army's size terrified Stephen's retainers, although in truth the force was very small. Having been defeated twice in battle, and with no money to pay his mercenaries, the young Henry appealed to his uncle Robert for aid but was turned away. Desperately, and in secret, the boy then asked Stephen for help. According to the Gesta Stephani, "On receiving the message, the king...hearkened to the young man..." and bestowed upon him money and other support.

[edit] Recognises Henry as his heir and dies

Stephen maintained his precarious hold on the throne for the remainder of his lifetime. However, after a military standoff at Wallingford with Henry, and following the death of his son and heir, Eustace, in 1153, he was persuaded to reach a compromise with Empress Matilda (known as the Treaty of Wallingford or Winchester), whereby her son would succeed Stephen on the English throne as King Henry II.

Stephen died in Dover, at Dover Priory, and was buried in Faversham Abbey, which he had founded with Countess Matilda in 1147.

Besides Eustace, Stephen and Matilda had two other sons, Baldwin (d. before 1135), and William of Blois (Count of Mortain and Boulogne, and Earl of Surrey or Warenne). They also had two daughters, Matilda and Marie of Boulogne. In addition to these children, Stephen fathered at least three illegitimate children, one of whom, Gervase, became Abbot of Westminster.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (the Peterborough Chronicle, second continuation) provides a moving and succinct appraisal of Stephen's reign:

"In the days of this King there was nothing but strife, evil, and robbery, for quickly the great men who were traitors rose against him. When the traitors saw that Stephen was a good-humoured, kindly, and easy-going man who inflicted no punishment, then they committed all manner of horrible crimes . . . And so it lasted for nineteen years while Stephen was King, till the land was all undone and darkened with such deeds, and men said openly that Christ and his angels slept".

The monastic author said, of The Anarchy, "this and more we suffered nineteen winters for our sins."

[edit] Trivia

* His Royal Motto was vi nulla invertitur ordo, By no force is their arrangement altered (a reference to the three ostrich plume feathers of his personal coat of arms).

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Walter Map, De nugis curialium 5.6.

[edit] Sources

* Gesta Stephani

* Walter Map, De nugis curialium

* Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

[edit] Bibliography

* Crouch, David. The Reign of King Stephen, 2000

House of Blois

Born: 1096

Died: 1154, 25 October

Preceded by

Henry I King of England

1135–1154 Succeeded by

Henry II

Duke of Normandy

1135–1154

Preceded by

Robert II Count of Mortain

1121–1135 Succeeded by

Eustace IV

Preceded by

Matilda I Count of Boulogne

1128–1151

with Matilda I

Direct Ancestry

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Stephen II Henry (c. 1045 – May 19, 1102), (in French, Étienne Henri), Count of Blois and Count of Chartres, was the son of Theobald III, count of Blois, and Garsinde du Maine. He married Adela of Normandy, a daughter of William the Conqueror around 1080 in Chartres.

Count Stephen was one of the leaders of the First Crusade, often writing enthusiastic letters to Adela about the crusade's progress. He returned home in 1098 during the lengthy siege of Antioch, without fulfilling his crusading vow to forge a way to Jerusalem. He was pressured by Adela into making a second pilgrimage, and joined the minor crusade of 1101 in the company of others who had also returned home prematurely. In 1102, Stephen was killed in the Battle of Ramla at the age of fifty-seven.

Stephen and Adela's children were:

Guillaume (William) (d.1150), Count of Chartres married Agnes of Sulli (d. aft 1104) and had issue.

Theobald II, Count of Champagne

Odo, died young.

Stephen, King of England

Lucia-Mahaut, married Richard d'Avranches, 2nd Earl of Chester. Both drowned on 25 November 1120.

Agnes, married Hugh III of Le Puiset

Eléonore (d. 1147) married Raoul I of Vermandois (d. 1152) and had issue; they were divorced in 1142.

Lithuise, who married Milon of Troyes, viscount of Troyes, was possibly his sister and not his daughter, judging from the dates of her children.

He had an illegitimate daughter Emma, who was the mother of William of York, archbishop of York.

--------------------

Stephen II Henry (c. 1045 – 19 May 1102), (in French, Étienne Henri), Count of Blois and Count of Chartres, was the son of Theobald III, count of Blois, and Garsinde du Maine. He married Adela of Normandy, a daughter of William the Conqueror around 1080 in Chartres. In 1089, upon the death of his father, he became the Count of Blois and Chartres, although Theobald had given him the administration of those holdings in 1074.

Count Stephen was one of the leaders of the First Crusade, often writing enthusiastic letters to Adela about the crusade's progress. Stephen was the head of the army council at the Crusaders' siege of Nicaea in 1097.[1] He returned home in 1098 during the lengthy siege of Antioch, without having fulfilled his crusading vow to forge a way to Jerusalem. He was pressured by Adela into making a second pilgrimage, and joined the minor crusade of 1101 in the company of others who had also returned home prematurely. In 1102, Stephen was killed at the Second Battle of Ramla at the age of fifty-seven.

[edit] Family and children

Stephen and Adela's children were:

1.William, Count of Sully (d.1150), Count of Chartres married Agnes of Sulli (d. aft 1104) and had issue.

2.Theobald II, Count of Champagne

3.Odo, died young.

4.Stephen, King of England

5.Lucia-Mahaut, married Richard d'Avranches, 2nd Earl of Chester. Both drowned on 25 November 1120.

6.Agnes, married Hugh III of Le Puiset

7.Eléonore (d. 1147) married Raoul I of Vermandois (d. 1152) and had issue; they were divorced in 1142.

For the King of England called "Stephen of Blois", see Stephen of England.

Stephen II Henry (c. 1045 – 19 May 1102), (in French, Étienne Henri), Count of Blois and Count of Chartres, was the son of Theobald III, count of Blois, and Garsinde du Maine. He married Adela of Normandy, a daughter of William the Conqueror around 1080 in Chartres. In 1089, upon the death of his father, he became the Count of Blois and Chartres, although Theobald had given him the administration of those holdings in 1074.

Original coat of arms of the county of Blois.

Count Stephen was one of the leaders of the First Crusade, often writing enthusiastic letters to Adela about the crusade's progress. Stephen was the head of the army council at the Crusaders' siege of Nicaea in 1097.[1] He returned home in 1098 during the lengthy siege of Antioch, without having fulfilled his crusading vow to forge a way to Jerusalem. He was pressured by Adela into making a second pilgrimage, and joined the minor crusade of 1101 in the company of others who had also returned home prematurely. In 1102, Stephen was killed at the Second Battle of Ramla at the age of fifty-seven.[2]

[edit] Family and children

Stephen and Adela's children were:

1. William, Count of Sully (d.1150), Count of Chartres married Agnes of Sulli (d. aft 1104) and had issue.

2. Theobald II, Count of Champagne

3. Odo, died young.

4. Stephen, King of England

5. Lucia-Mahaut, married Richard d'Avranches, 2nd Earl of Chester. Both drowned on 25 November 1120.

6. Agnes, married Hugh III of Le Puiset

7. Eléonore (d. 1147) married Raoul I of Vermandois (d. 1152) and had issue; they were divorced in 1142.

Stephen II Henry (in French, Étienne Henri), Count of Blois and Count of Chartres, married Adela of Normandy, a daughter of William the Conqueror, around 1080 in Chartres. They had 11 children, 2 of which are our ancestors. (Stephen Henry had another child, also our ancestor, by an unnamed mistress.)

Stephen Henry was often referred to as "le Sage," and was a great patron of Troubadours and writers.

Stephen Henry inherited Blois, Chartres, and Meaux in 1089, and owned over 300 properties, making him one of the wealthiest men of his day. He was a pious and revered leader who managed huge areas of France which inherited from his father and added to by his sharp administrations. He was, essentially a king in his own right.

Count Stephen Henry was one of the leaders of the First Crusade, often writing enthusiastic letters to Adela about the Crusade's progress. Stephen Henry joined the First Crusade, along with his brother-in-law Robert Curthose. Stephen Henry's letters to Adela form a uniquely intimate insight into the experiences of the Crusade's leaders. The Count of Blois returned to France in 1098, during the lengthy siege of Antioch, bringing with him several cartloads of maps, jewels and other treasures, which he deposited at Chartres.

Stephen Henry returned home in 1098 during the lengthy siege of Antioch, without fulfilling his crusading vow to forge a way to Jerusalem. (He was under an obligation to the Pope for agreements made years earlier. Rumors of his cowardice and defection under fire are untrue and unfounded and have been proven to be propaganda generated by later biased historians.)

Stephen Henry was pressured by Adela into making a second pilgrimage, and joined the minor crusade of 1101, returning to Antioch in the company of others who had also returned home prematurely. In 1102, Stephen was killed in the Battle of Ramla, in an ill advised charge, at the age of 57.

Stephen Henry was our ancestor through three distinct descent lines--through his son Stephen, his son Theobald, and his bastard daughter Emma, each of whom was independently our ancestor.

Stephen II Henry (c. 1045 – May 19, 1102), (in French, Étienne Henri), Count of Blois and Count of Chartres, was the son of Theobald III, count of Blois, and Garsinde du Maine. He married Adela of Normandy, a daughter of William the Conqueror around 1080 in Chartres.

Count Stephen was one of the leaders of the First Crusade, often writing enthusiastic letters to Adela about the crusade's progress. He returned home in 1098 during the lengthy siege of Antioch, without fulfilling his crusading vow to forge a way to Jerusalem. He was pressured by Adela into making a second pilgrimage, and joined the minor crusade of 1101 in the company of others who had also returned home prematurely. In 1102, Stephen was killed in the Battle of Ramla at the age of fifty-seven.

Stephen and Adela's children were:

Guillaume (William) (d.1150), Count of Chartres married Agnes of Sulli (d. aft 1104) and had issue.

Theobald II, Count of Champagne

Odo, died young.

Stephen, King of England

Lucia-Mahaut, married Richard d'Avranches, 2nd Earl of Chester. Both drowned on 25 November 1120.

Agnes, married Hugh III of Le Puiset

Eléonore (d. 1147) married Raoul I of Vermandois (d. 1152) and had issue; they were divorced in 1142.

Lithuise, who married Milon of Troyes, viscount of Troyes, was possibly his sister and not his daughter, judging from the dates of her children.

He had an illegitimate daughter Emma, who was the mother of William of York, archbishop of York. -------------------- Stephen II Henry (c. 1045 – 19 May 1102 ), (in French , Étienne Henri), Count of Blois and Count of Chartres , was the son of Theobald III , count of Blois , and Garsinde du Maine. He married Adela of Normandy , a daughter of William the Conqueror around 1080 in Chartres . In 1089, upon the death of his father, he became the Count of Blois and Chartres, although Theobald had given him the administration of those holdings in 1074.

Count Stephen was one of the leaders of the First Crusade , often writing enthusiastic letters to Adela about the crusade 's progress. Stephen was the head of the army council at the Crusaders' siege of Nicaea in 1097. He returned home in 1098 during the lengthy siege of Antioch , without having fulfilled his crusading vow to forge a way to Jerusalem . He was pressured by Adela into making a second pilgrimage, and joined the minor crusade of 1101 in the company of others who had also returned home prematurely. In 1102, Stephen was killed at the Second Battle of Ramla at the age of fifty-seven.

Family and children

Stephen and Adela's children were:

William, Count of Sully (d.1150), Count of Chartres married Agnes of Sulli (d. aft 1104) and had issue.